Chapter 1 of Scrambled eggs is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Scrambled eggs is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Eustace was a thorough gentleman. There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart. In short, he was a most exemplary duck. Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs. He admired his wife tremendously.
Chapter 1 of Scrambled eggs is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/83 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
ability to make judgments free from discrimination or dishonesty
From this reading “There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.”
English explorer and admiral who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada (1540-1596)
From this reading “Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.”
worthy of imitation
From this reading “In short, he was a most exemplary duck.”
an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice
From this reading “There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.”
marked by the presence of snow
From this reading “There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.”
painstakingly careful and accurate
From this reading “Eustace was a thorough gentleman.”
extremely
From this reading “He admired his wife tremendously.”
walking with short steps and the weight tilting from one foot to the other
From this reading “There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “In short, he was a most exemplary duck.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading Eustace was a thorough gentleman.
regarded with admiration
From this reading He admired his wife tremendously.
a disposition to be friendly and approachable (easy to talk to)
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
ability to make judgments free from discrimination or dishonesty
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
make right or correct
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
English explorer and admiral who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada (1540-1596)
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
to move (the head or body) quickly downwards or away
From this reading In short, he was a most exemplary duck.
oval reproductive body of a fowl (especially a hen) used as food
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Eustace was a thorough gentleman.
worthy of imitation
From this reading In short, he was a most exemplary duck.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
a man of refinement
From this reading Eustace was a thorough gentleman.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading In short, he was a most exemplary duck.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
a married man; a woman's partner in marriage
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
used to form the superlative
From this reading In short, he was a most exemplary duck.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
feeling self-respect or pleasure in something by which you measure your self-worth; or being a reason for pride
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
free of extraneous elements of any kind
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
on the contrary
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
(used with count nouns) of an indefinite number more than 2 or 3 but not many
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
From this reading In short, he was a most exemplary duck.
marked by the presence of snow
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
of or relating to the sympathetic nervous system
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
painstakingly careful and accurate
From this reading Eustace was a thorough gentleman.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Or rather, to be more correct, a drake: for he was a husband, and the proud father of several eggs.
extremely
From this reading He admired his wife tremendously.
directly under, often hidden by what is above
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
walking with short steps and the weight tilting from one foot to the other
From this reading There was candor in his quack, and affability in his waddle; and underneath his snowy down beat a pure and sympathetic heart.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Eustace was a thorough gentleman.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading He admired his wife tremendously.
Chapter 1 of Scrambled eggs by Lawton Mackall holds 415 sentences, grouped into 83 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 1 holds 415 sentences of Scrambled eggs, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Scrambled eggs by Lawton Mackall exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 415 sentences, grouped into 83 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 1 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading Scrambled eggs by Lawton Mackall on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Scrambled eggs section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Scrambled eggs to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Scrambled eggs, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
